Reversible garments



Jan. 10, 1967 COLLINS I 3,296,628

REVERSIBLE GARMENTS Filed July 17, 1964 INVENTOR. ARLINE .I COLL/N6 my?!My ATTORNEYS United States Patent Gffice 3,296,628 Patented Jan. 10,1967 3,296,628 REVERSIBLE GARMENTS Arline J. Collins, 1510 E. MinnehahaParkway, Minneapolis, Minn. 55417 Filed July 17, 1964, Ser. No. 383,4121 Claim. (Cl. 2211) This invention relates to reversible garments of thetype made from double-faced fabric, such that they may be worn witheither of two different fabric faces exposed and showing. Moreparticularly, this invention relates to reversible garments havinginverted twin plackets for slide fasteners or similar fastening means.The twin plackets are so located that when the garment is worn one ofthe plackets is accessible for operation of the fastening means, andproperly located as to fashion and custom, at all times, regardless ofwhich fabric face of the reversible garment is exposed.

Some typical reversible fabric garments include the following: casualgarments, such as sportswear and the like which permits alternationbetween a plain fabric and a patterned fabric, or between differentcolors; hunting garments in which one fabric face is drab for use inhunting upland game birds or migratory water fowl and the other fabricface is bright, as red, for example, for wearing while hunting deer orother big game where visibility to other hunters is required for safety;military camoufiage garments in which one fabric face is white to limitvisibility against snow or sand and the other fabric face is drab tolimit visibility against foliage; or the like.

Reversible garments have long been known. While they have achieved somedegree of popularity from time to time, this has been limited largelybecause of awkardness and inconvenience in fastening such garments withequal facility and convenience, regardless of which fabric face isexposed. For example, by custom and fashion of long standing, womensgarments such as skirts, slacks, dresses, etc., are usually fastened onthe left hand side. Assuming reversible side-fastened reversiblegarments having distinctive fronts and backs, such as slacks or shorts,if the fastener is on the left hand side when worn with one faceexposed, this garment when turned inside out to reverse it and exposethe other fabric face then, of necessity, must be fastened from theopposite or right hand side. This is awkward and inconvenient for a wornan who is habitually accustomed to fasten similar garments from the leftside only.

Where the reversible garment is secured by a slide fastener, it is oftendifficult to operate the fastener when the garment is reversed. Ordinaryslide fasteners are intended to be operated from one side only. It isinconvenient to use such fasteners in reversible garments because whenthe garment is reversed the pull tab on the fastener is virtuallyinaccessible. While two-way slide fasteners are available which havepull tabs on both sides, these also are relatively unsatisfactory. Withsuch fasteners it is not feasible to use lockable pull tabs because,when the inner pull tab is in down or locking position, then thefastener cannot be operated from the opposite exposed side. When theinner pull tab is up so that the outer or exposed tab may be used tooperate the slide fastener, operation is unsatisfactory because theinner pull tab tends to catch in the undergarments of the user, or catchin the teeth of the slide fastener, or otherwise cause the slidefastener to jab.

It is the principal object of the present invention to overcome thedifficulties associated with prior art reversible garments by providingsuch a garment with inverted twin plackets so spaced that one of theplackets is always properly located and readily accessible for fasteningand unfastening of the garment, regardless of which fabric face of thereversible garment is exposed.

Other objects of the invention will become apparent as the descriptionproceeds.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, this inventionthen comprises the features hereinafter fully described and particularlypointed out in the claim, the following description setting forth indetail certain illustrative embodiments of the invention, these beingindicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which theprinciples of the invention may be employed.

The invention is illustrated by the accompanying drawings in which thesame numerals refer to corresponding parts and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevation of a reversible skint embodying the twinplacket structure of the present invention, being partly broken away toshow the pull tab of the slide fastener in one of the plackets;

FiGURE 2 is a fragmentary back view of the skirt of FIGURE 1, brokenaway to show the inside of the front portion of the skirt, which becomesthe outside when the skirt is reversed;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged fragmentary front elevational view, showing ingreater detail the construction and arrangement of reversible garmentaccording to the present invenion; and

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged fragmentary section on the line 44 of FIGURE 1and in the direction of the arrows.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown a simple tailoredreversible skirt, indicated generally at 10, embodying the inverted twinplackets according to the present invention. The skirt is comprised of aplurality of panels 11, 12, 13, etc., sewed together and suspended froma waistband 1445. The garment is reversible in the sense that it is madefrom a double-faced fabric and is adapted to be worn with either fabricface exposed. For illustrative purposes, one fabric face is shown asplain whereas the other is shown as being patterned.

The garment is provided with twin plackets 16 and 17 extending generallylongitudinally relative to the garment and spaced apart toward the rightand left hand sides of the garment as worn. In the illustrated exemplarygarment, the plackets form an ornamental front panel of the skirt,placket 16 being inserted in the seam between skirt panels 11 and 12 andplacket 17 being inserted in the seam between skirt panels 11 and 13.The plackets are located symmetrically on opposite sides of thelongitudinal axis of the garment. Both plackets are fully finished onboth sides so that they present a completed finished appearance whenexposed when either fabric face of the garment is outermost.

Each placket is fitted with a slide fastener. Placket 16 is fitted witha slide fastener 18 of the Zipper-type having a pull tab 19. Placket 16is on the wearers left side, the customary location for closures onwomens skirts. The slide fastener pull tab 19 of the zipper in thisplacket extends outwardly when the plain fabric face of the garment isoutermost. The right hand placket 17 is identical in all respects exceptthat the pull tab 20 of the slide fastener sewn into that placket facesinwardly against the body of the wearer. This is best seen in FIGURE 4.

When the plain fabric face of the garment is worn outermost, the closurewhich is used in putting on and taking off the garment is that inplacket 16 which is properly located on the left side, according tocustom, and has a pull tab 19 which is readily accessible. When theplain face of the garment is worn outermost the fastener in placket 17is not used either in putting the garment on or taking it off.

However, when the garment is turned inside out to expose the patternedfabric face, then the relative positions of the plackets relative to thewearer become reversed. Then, placket 16 is on the right hand side andpull tab 19 faces inwardly. Placket 17 is on the left side and pull tab20 is on the outside where it is readily accessible to the wearer. Thus,when thes reverse or patterned side is outermost the fastener in placket17 is used exclusively in putting the garment on and taking it off. Thefastener in placket 16 is not used, but is maintained closed. Thus, itwill be seen that whichever fabric face of the garment is exposed thegarment may be put on and taken 011? with equal facility using thefastener in that placket which is located according to custom and has areadily accessible pull tab.

Although the garment illustrated shows the plackets 16 and 17 installedin seams on opposite sides of the front center panel 11 of the skirt, itwill be readily apparent that the plackets may be installed in the sideseams, or in seams in the back of the garment, as desired. Similarly,while the illustrated garment shows a center line placket, particularlyone in which the slide fastener is concealed when the placket is closed,it will be apparent that a lapped placket may be used as Well. In alapped placket the slide fastener is hidden behind a single fold ofmaterial and these are installed so as to present a symmetricalappearance.

The illustrated garment includes an optional waistband 14-15. Thewaistband portion 14 extends only part way around the waist of thewearer. The gap between the ends of the waistband portion 14 is bridgedby an ornamental Waistband panel attached to the center front panel 11of the skirt. Waistband panel 15 includes button-down tabs 21 and 22 atopposite ends provided with button holes 23 and 24, respectively. Theopposite ends 25 and 26 of waistband portion 14 are provided withbuttons 27 and 28, respectively, on the plain fabric face side andbuttons 29 and 30, respectively, on the patterned face side.

When the skirt is worn with the plain fabric side outermost, buttonholes 23 and 24 of the waistband portion 15 engage buttons 27 and 28,respectively, as illustrated. Then, when the garment is reversed, thetabs 21 and 22 are unbuttoned and extended around to the opposite sidesof the end portions 25 and 26 of the waistband 14 so as to engagebuttons 29 and 30, respectively. Thus, the structural arrangement of thegarment is identical when either fabric face is worn outermost.

While the invention has been described and illustrated with particularreference to a womans skirt, it will be immediately apparent that it isequally adapted to other reversible garments whether of men, Women orchildren. It will be apparent that the invention is adapted to use inconnection with reversible garments of all types, such as skirts anddresses, blouses, sweaters, jackets, coats, slacks and shorts and otherpants, and the like. The reversible twin plackets may be Widely spacedapart, as in the side seams of skirts or slacks, or they may be moreclosely spaced together so as to form an ornamental front panel, as inthe illustrated example. The twin plackets are equally useful for backopenings where desired. In Womens jackets, for example, the twinplackets may be spaced on the front of the jacket so as to define aremovable panel, so that when desired this center panel may be detachedand the jacket worn as a weskit.

Although the invention has been described with particular reference toslide fasteners of the zipper-type and is especially useful inconnection with such fasteners, the twin placket concept may be usedwith other type fasteners. For example, other garment closures such asthe Velcro fabric fastener, or buttons, snap fasteners, hooks and eyes,etc., are adapted to incorporate into the twin plackets. In everyinstance there is made possible a reversible garment with a properlylocated and properly facing opening and closing placket, regardless ofwhich fabric face of the garment is outmost.

It is apparent that many modifications and variations of this inventionas hereinbefore set forth may be made without departing from the spiritand scope thereof. The specific embodiments described are given by wayof example only and the invention is limited only by the terms of theappended claim.

I claim:

A reversible garment having two different fabric faces and adapted to beworn with either fabric face outermost,

(A) a pair of laterally spaced apart plackets incorporated into saidgarment,

(B) each of said plackets presenting a finished appearance from bothsides,

(C) said plackets being located symmetrically relative to the centrallongitudinal axis of said garment,

(D) each of said plackets extending generally longitudinally of thegarment and enclosing a single elongated zipper-type slide fastenergarment closure means,

(E) each of said slide fastener closure means being adapted foroperation from only one fabric face of said garment by virtue of eachfastener being provided with a pull tab adapted to extend outwardly forgrasping by the wearers fingers when in use in operating the closuremeans, the pull tab of one of said slide fasteners being on the sameside of the garment as one of the fabric faces and the pull tab of theother of said slide fasteners being on the same side as the other fabricface of the garment whereby only one of the slide fastener pull tabs isreadily accessible on the outside of the garment regardless of whichfabric face is outermost,

(F) one of said plackets being incorporated into the garment foroperation of its closure means from the outside of the garment and at apredetermined location relative to the body of the wearer when worn withone fabric face outermost,

(G) the other of said plackets being incorporated into the garment foroperation of its closure means from the outside of the garment and atthe same predetermined location when Worn with the other fabric faceoutermost and (H) one of said closure means normally remains closedwhile the other is used for ingress to and egress from said garment.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 573,650 12/1896Haas 2-211 1,031,112 7/1912 Fox 2-2l1 1,879,898 9/1932 Gerisch 2-2112,277,492 3/ 1942 Kamhi 2 2,747,197 5/1956 Bailey 22l1 2,838,760 6/1958Lilie 221l FOREIGN PATENTS 908,484 9/1945 France.

References Cited by the Applicant UNITED STATES PATENTS 573,650 12/1896Haas. 1,031,112 7/1912 Fox. 1,879,898 9/1932 Gerisch. 2,747,197 5/1956Bailey.

JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner. A. R. GUEST, Assistant Examiner.

